Breaking Away in Retirement

Later Living submitted a byline to the Athens Banner-Herald that was published online and in print this morning. The piece offers readers five paths to breaking away in retirement. 

Before retirement, most of us live in established routines. We rise early and head to work, where we perform familiar tasks; we come home to our families, have dinner, enjoy the evening, and go to bed. One day grows into the next.

Such patterned living is built on years of small adjustments to the demands of school, then work, family and community. It started in kindergarten — showing up, following instructions, adopting goals and meeting expectations. By the time of retirement, most of us live with a sort of automated proficiency.

At retirement, we chuck the job, but without a deliberate effort to break the routine, ingrained living patterns remain; retirement slides along with new responsibilities gradually filling the time spent at work. There is nothing wrong with that pattern, but it may amount to a missed opportunity.

Read more at Online Athens.

Marking the Entrance to Retirement

Retirement is a major life event that deserves to be marked and noticed. It compares to initiations into adulthood or marriage, both of which are actively celebrated. At work, we honor careers that are ending, but retirement should be inaugurated with its own special activity.

Whatever the chosen activities, a good retirement initiation involves reflecting backward to interpret what has gone before, looking inward to better understand yourself, and preparing for what might be ahead.